trippe



(No Model.)

S. L.v TRIPPHr APPARATUS FOR AMALGAMATING- AND SEPYARATING G0LD,&0

FROM THEIR ORES.. i

Patemed 8812.12, 1882.

N. PETERS. Phnm-L'lhngnpher. wa-hingmn. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT rrrcr.

SYLVANUS L. TRIPPE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALE TO.

' ABEL H. BLISS, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR AMALGAMATING AND SEPARATING GOLD, 8Lc., FROM THEIR ORES.

SPECIFICATION formng part of Letters Patent No. 264,422, dated September 12, 1882.

Application filed July 22. 1882. (No model.)

To all w/Lom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SYLVANUS L. TRIPPE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,haveinvented a new and Improved Apparatus for Amalgamating and Separating Gold and 'other Metals i'roni their Ores by Means of Mercury; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the Io same.

My invention relates mainly to the treatment of the ores of metals having a greater specific gravity than mercury, and therefore pertains more especially to the ores containing gold, platinum, andtheir alloys.

Most of the processes heretofore in use for separating minerals from ores with the aid of mercury have been based upon the theory that amalgamation is au essential requisite to such separation, and expensive Operations are frequently resorted to for the purpose of rendering the amalgamation as nearly perfect as possible; but all these are in many cases and under many conditions inadequate to produce the desired result.

My invention is founded, however, upon the hypothesis that efl'ectual separation is not dependent upon amalgamation, but that'the former may be brought about irrespective of the degree to which the rlatter is carried by relying also upon the natural 1aw of gravity that is to'say, if the ores containing metals having a greater specific gravity than mercury are reduced to a fine powder and mixed with mercury in avessel, the metahwhether attacked by the mercury or not, Will, by Virtue of its superior specific gravity, sink t-o the bottom, and the'foreign substances, owing to their inferior sprcific gravity, will rise to the surface. In

40 this way I obtain not only the gold which amalgamates, but also the rusty gold, or gold which,

from any cause, fails to amalgamate. Hence with my process Operations teLdesulphnrizing become unnecessary.

The theory that gravity, as well as amalgamation, operates inthe separation of metals from their ores by means of mercury is not a Vnew one, but has been recognized and adopted in the art more or less extensively. In reducing it 'to practice heretofore, however, the

` method generally employed has been to introdu'ce the Ore in a triturated condition into the mercury, at its upper surface, and carry off the foreign substances by Washing and overtlow, whereby many of the fine mineral particles are washed away before sinking beneath the mer- 'cury or amalgamating with it. This is a general statement of the method withoutrreference to any of the mechanism employed for `securing the most desirable results. With this method the force of gravity and the nnavoidable currents iu the water are necessarily in confiict, the latter tending, in opposition to the 'former, to carry otf more or less of the fiuer particles of the metal. It is this defect inainly which it is the object ot' my invention to overcome. v

I have found by experiment that by introducing the triturated ore into the body of mercury near the bottom of the same, and thus .requiring the foreign substances to pass (not by forcing them, but only by reason of their inferior specific gravity) through the superincumbent mercury, they become, before. reaching the surface, (Where they are washed away in the usual manner,) almost absolutely di- Yested ot' all metal having a greater specific gravity than mercury, so that the water-currents are no longer capable of creating` material loss, as such'metals once placed bencath a body of mercury must remain beneath unless they are lifted up by currents cr bylighter inaterial attached to them; but in the practical application of this method of introducing the triturated ore into the base of the mercury bath and allowing the lighter constituents to y rise to the surface several important subordinate details must be observed in order to secure the best results. First, the comminuted ore must be thoroughly mixed with the mercury at and about the plane of introduction; and, secondly, the rising particles must be prevented from creating upward curreuts in the mercury,`since the effect of this would be to -carry the material up in columns or masses,

and to a considerable eXten t, without reference to its specific gravity, whereby more or less of the precious metal would be carried to the surface with the foreign matter and washed away. This also is one of the difficulties encountered mo -cess into effect.

with those methods which, while passing the ore through the mercury from below, use force sufficient to hold the mercury in suspension. In my process, it will be observed, the force of gravity is allowed to operate naturally without the aid of artiticial means for forcing the substauces through the mercury.

To obviate the ditiiculties above nained 1 provide means for thoroughly disseminating the comminuted ore through the mereury and mixing it therewith at and about the plane of its introduetion, and also providing perforated diaphragms above the level at which the ore enters, through which the rising particles are required to work their way in their upward passage.-

A mechanical device by which the ore is injected into the base of the mercury bath, and by which the requisite agitation and mixing are effected, as well as an arrangement of perforated diaphragms, are esseutial in solne form or other to the successful earrying of the pro- Therefore I have constrncted an apparatus, which is fully described below, possessing all the required characteristics and adapted to effect the desired result.

In the drawings, Figure l is a central vertical section of myapparatus; and Fig. 2,11 crosssection of the pipe, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l.

A is a vessel, preferably made flaring toward its upper end and cylindrical elsewhere, as shown, and B a pipe standing in a seat in the bottom of the vessel and stayed by a suitable bearing, o, above the vessel. This pipe is provided with a hopper, u, at its upper end, and also with a fixed pulley, t, or some analogous contrivanee to permit it to be revolved.

Near the lower end of the pipe a series of lateral branches, 8, project from it, leading from the interior of the pipe and opening` into the interior of the vessel; and I prefer to make the branches of varying lengths, as shown iu Fig. 2, for reasons that will appear later. The tubular portion of the pipe B terminates at or just below these branches.

O is a convex perforated diaphragm, supported by a eollar, r, on the pipe B a short distance above the branch pipes, and which I generally mount loosely upon the shaft, so that the latter revolves within it. The diaphragm must not reach quite to the wall of the vessel.

D is a horizontal perforated diaphragm, (the perforations in which may with advantage be made larger than those in the diaphragm C,)

supported upon the pipe B, and which I prefer to have rigidly fixed to the shaft and revolve with it. For this purpose I employ two collars, r', at this point. While advisable, it is not absolutely necessary that the diaphragm D be rigidly fixed to the shaft A, and henee levels, and 1 therefore fit the collars r and r' to the pipe B by means of set-screws p and use for the seat of the pipe an adjusting-screw, o, passiug through the bottoni of the vessel. Thus the turning of the screw 0 raises or lowers the pipe B, and with it the branch pipes s, while the diaphragm may be adjnsted as desired by shitting the positions of the collars. All the internal parts can be reinoved by lifting out when desired.

To use the device, the comminuted ore, wet to a pulp, is fed into the hopper u and the pipe slowly rotated. The pipe B being of snflcent vlength to overcome the hydrostatic pressure ot' the mercury, the pulp is forced ontof the branches s into the bath at different points in thesamehorizontal plane,owing to thediiferent lengthsofthebranches,whilethe rotationofthe branches causesathorough mixing of the mercury and ore. Most of the metals which have a greater specific gravity than mercury immediately take a downward course. A part, however, will be carried up with the foreign snhstances through the perforations in the diaphragni O into the mereury intervening bctween the two diaphragins. The diaphragm O serves not only to distribute the risingparticles, and thus bring them into a more imimate association with the mercury, butit also prevents the effect of the stirrers from reachingabovcit. Amalgamation takes place more or less both above-and below the diaphragm, and all the amalgam, with gold, which forms between the two diaphragms descends upon the convex surface of the diaphragm O, and thence, by reason of the convexity, passes over the edges to the bottom. of the vesscl. Any metal that may amalgamate above the upper diaphragm finds its'way through the perforations in that diaphragm and descends to the bottom of the vessel in the same manner. Amalgamation will also take place between any particles of metallic silver contained in the ore, and, although not sinking to the bottom, will be retained with the mercury, and may be separated in the usual way.

The great efi'cctiveness of my invention is due largely to the fact that the rising matter under treatment, after leaving the comparatively turbulent stratum of mercury below the diaphragm O, enters a stratum which is in a state of uearly perfect quietude, while the final stratum through which itrises(that above the diaphragm D) is even less disturbed than the second. This quiescent state of the upper strata of the mercury is due in a great measure to the diaphragms, but even without the diaphragms it would follow to a considerable extent from the inherent property of mercury, by which internal disturbance is rendered almost wholly local, prodnciug no general currents, and but little movernent outside the immediate point of agitation.

Under ordinary circumstances I find two perforated diaphragms to be suffieient; but if it be desired to supply the bath very rapidly with comminuted orc, the number may be iu- IOO creased to three or more. Iu fact the number of diaphragms within reasonable limits is a mere matter of choice. Where three are used I generally have the intermediate one only revolve with the shaft.

When the apparatus -is to be 'stopped the feeding of pulp into the hopper should be discontinued and the pipe emptied of pulp before the revolution ceases, to prevent packing by the settling at the bottom of the heavier and coarser partie-les. The emptying may be effeeted by runningin water, or in anyotherconvenient way.

Devices other than the `gfravity-pipe B With branch tubes may be used tb'r feed'ing the ore into the base of the mercury bath and t'oragitating the mixture at the proper place. If it be desired. to feed the ore dry instead of wet, some suitable means would of course have to be substituted.

An endless carrier, properly` arran ged, might be used for feedingeitherwet or dry materials.

I am aware that devices for separating metals have`been devised in which the ore has 1. The combination of the vessel A,vertical pipe B, having means for rotating it, and having a .hopper at its upper end,arched perforat-v projecting from the pipeB betwe'en the bottomof the vessel and the diaphragm O, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the vessel A, pipe B,

having the hopper to and branches 8, mechanism for revolving the pipe B, perforated diaphragms O and D, adjustable collars r and r', for permitting the diaphragms to beraised and lowered on the pipe B, and screw-seat o, for permitting the raising and lowering of the pipe B, substantially as described. 3. The combination, with the vessel A, -of the pipe B, having (listributing-tubes of varying lengths, as set for-th, mechanism for rotating the same, and one or more perforated diaphragms supported within the vessel A above the distributing-tubes, substantially as described. r

sYLvANUs' L. TRIPPE.

In presence of- WM. H. DYRENFORTH, EDWARD BEOKWITH. 

